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be like mr. rogers

FredRogers

The more I hear and read about Fred Rogers, the more I am saddened by the fact that I never got to meet the man. His focus on helping children develop into the best people they could be, his efforts to help them understand the world around them and their new feelings and experiences as a part of that world were trail blazing, understated and worthy of praise beyond words.

As a kid, I didn’t get. As a parent I do.

I bring this up because my friends over at the Copyblogger blog, specifically the author Karl Staib, wrote a wonderful post today about how bloggers can improve their blogs by really caring about their readers as much as Fred Rogers cared about the children he worked with and broadcast to.

To me, considering the high esteem with which I hold the work of Fred Rogers, that’s a tall order but its wonderful advice none the less and its something I will work towards. I have told you before in this forum how much I appreciate your subscription here but it bears repeating – thank you!

Of special note in the Copyblogger post is the wonderful video, also posted here previously, featuring Mr. Rogers speaking before Congress about a funding bill for PBS in the 60’s that President Nixon wanted cut. His was not a very friendly audience but Fred Rogers spoke with the calm, rationale manner he always did, spoke from the heart (nary a script in sight) and won the battle and the hearts of Washington, D.C. on that day.

To me, that was reality TV!

I hope you’ll read the post and watch the video and if you have a blog, take the advice.

happy blogiversary to bobbin beam

<em>Bobbin Beam - Female Voice Talent</em>

Bobbin Beam - Female Voice Talent

Happy Blogiversary to a wonderful person and voice talent Bobbin Beam, who celebrates her third year in the blogosphere.

As a long and loyal subscriber, I thank her for her blog work and for almost as long, I thank her for her friendship.

the faux-dition votes are in

abc_news_logo

I’ve tabulated the votes on the unofficial audition for the announcer job for World News with Diane Sawyer.

My oh my was there a lot of politicking going on in this year’s faux-dition vote. This “crown” is more important to folks than I realized.

Congratulations to Ralph and all the nominees for your efforts and obvious talent.

Very special thanks to EVERYONE who participated. I hope all 96 of you enjoyed it.

1 Ralph Hass
2 Jack Friday
3 Rich Brennan
4 Tammy McDaniel
5 (T) John Weeks
5 (T) Dan Harder
7 Jay Douglas
8 DC Goode
9 Lee Gordon
10 Philip Ives
11 Brian Haymond

an open letter to vancouver on the eve of their olympic games

vancouver_olympics_2010_logo_50

Dear Vancouver,

Good luck tonight as you kick off your Olympic games.

You’ll do great. Wish I could be there with you.

Best always,
– Peter

on february 12, 2010, please wear red for remembrance

<em> Firefighters battle flames from the wreckage of Continental Flight 3407 on February 12, 2009 where 50 people died</em>

Firefighters battle flames from the wreckage of Continental Flight 3407 on February 12, 2009 where 50 people died

On Friday, February 12, 2010, many people might wear red to signify St. Valentine’s Day on Sunday. But I’d like to ask you to wear red on Friday for another reason.

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the crash of Continental flight 3407 from Newark to Buffalo where preventable pilot error caused the death of 50 people. The families affected by the crash (and there are many) will walk Friday from the site of the crash to Buffalo Niagara International Airport in memory of those they lost.

Additionally, the families have asked that people everywhere (not just in Western New York) wear red on Friday to remember those that died and those whose lives were changed forever.

Flying is not safer today than it was one year ago. It seems no one is willing to truly address the problem.

Maybe a little symbolism will help get their attention.

audio’connell on YouTube

<em>the audio'connell YouTube page</em>

the audio'connell YouTube page

I am not a pioneer on most things, including social media. I like to see where things are going, if they are going to build up a big enough head of steam and then decide to join in.

It was that way for me with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and now with YouTube where I have create my own page and produced my first video. Why?

Well, my college degree is in Radio/Television communication and I did own a video production company for six years so this is not totally unfamiliar territory. But I wasn’t sure on many fronts if I wanted to dip my toe in the video waters via social media.

Two things changed that.

One was when Jeff Kafer said he wanted to produce a video of the VO-BB voice talents recreating “The Night Before Christmas”. I didn’t have any of the tools needed at the time or a clue about the new way video worked but I decided to plod through it (embrace change etc., blah, blah). My finished work for that piece wasn’t stellar and Jeff had to tweak it a lot to make it presentable but it put me in to a more “I can do it” frame of mind. So thank you Jeff for that.

Next was the technology. I tried a Logitech camera for the VO-BB video but I thought it wasn’t sharp enough (or maybe the dullness was a result of the talent within my lens). Then I attended an Ad Club of Buffalo presentation featuring Kodak’s Chief Blogger, the very kind and knowledgeable Jennifer Cisney. Part of her presentation, not surprisingly included mention of some Kodak products including their Zi8 portable video camera. At the same time Steve Garfield, who I had met briefly some years ago at Podcamp Boston, published his new book (which I bought) on video and spoke highly of that same camera which had an input for external audio (which most cameras don’t have and which was something of importance to me). At $200 I figured I could make an educated mistake.

Calling around to some friends for editing tools advice and with my own trail and error (as is the way we all seem to learn, technologically, these days) I was ready to make my mistakes more publicly.

I am quite sure that after I do this for a while, I’ll look back at this video in disgust for its poor quality in any number of areas but for now, it’s not the worst thing I’ve seen and hopefully the content is a bit different.

I hope you’ll subscribe to my YouTube page and lets enjoy this ride together. Thanks.